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LYRICS

Sometimes I think
My voice is just too small
The problems too
Big for us to solve

But simple things
Can change the narrative
One filled with hope
The chance to thrive and live

PRE-CHORUS
Ten minutes, ten questions, ten years that are shaped
By taking a moment to participate.

CHORUS
Be counted, a better future for my family,
Be counted, money comes to my community
Be counted, I’m represented and can get what we need
Be counted, be counted, there’s power in being counted
Oh, oh
Be counted, be counted, there’s power in being counted

It’s just a form
No need to be afraid
It can’t be used
To hurt you in anyway

You have the power
For you and neighbors too
To be heard and
Claim what we are due.

Lawmakers want to protect water rights in Washington from Wall Street speculation

Worries that moneyed interests could control Washington’s water have sparked a push in Olympia to cut Wall Street bankers and international investors out of the state’s convoluted water rights system.

Competing bills introduced during this legislative session take aim at the state’s water banks, which collect untapped water rights and sell water to users in need. Although the proposed legislation has received only tepid support, a consensus is emerging that action is needed to keep speculators from using water banking, as one state senator puts it, to “strangle” Washingtonians. Read more at Crosscut https://crosscut.com/2020/02/lawmakers-want-protect-water-rights-washington-wall-street-speculation

High Schoolers and Allies March on LNG Facility

Tacoma, WA: On Saturday morning dozens of people gathered in a parking lot in Fife and marched four miles down Marine View Drive and across the Hylebos Bridge. Their signs read “Students Against LNG”, “Shut it Down”, and “No LNG in a Climate Emergency”, among others. The 40 people assembled were there to support Adriel Brewster and Gemma Duggins, two sophomores from the Tacoma Science and Math Institute who had organized the march to fight for their future and advocate for the
rights of the Puyallup Tribe. They were there to raise awareness about Puget Sound Energy’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project and the existential threat that it, and fossil fuel projects everywhere, poses
to their future.

“I’m here today because fossil fuels are destroying my future and the future of my peers,” said march organizer Gemma Duggins.
“Stopping this is really important to me because I’m part of the generation that will have to deal with this. We’re in a climate crisis and it’s really important we stop it before it gets even worse than it is already”, said fellow organizer Adriel Brewster.

The two SAMI students had planned this march as part of an environmental justice class but carrying out the march was not required – the two felt compelled to enact their plan once they had learned just how flawed the LNG project was, both from an environmental and Indigenous rights perspective.

“The Puyallup Tribe, and all native tribes, have historically been ignored and talked over in every situation and I think that’s also not okay,” said Duggins. “It is being built on their home and they did not consent to it.”

The marchers were honored to start their journey with opening words and a song from Water Warrior Dakota Case of the Puyallup Tribe. Their event ended with another song from Greg Urquhart, a member of Indigenous group Protectors of the Salish Sea who continue their presence in Olympia to demand that Governor Inslee declare a Climate Emergency.

“I’m here today because fossil fuels are destroying my future and the
future of my peers,” said march organizer Gemma Duggins.

The Long and Twisted Tale of Jordan Cove

“The Long and Twisted Tale of Jordan Cove,” tells the story of what could be the largest Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal on the West Coast. This mammoth facility, proposed for Coos Bay, Oregon, would be fed by a 240 mile long, 36″ wide pipeline transporting fracked gas across four counties in Southern Oregon. It would cross much of Southern Oregon, disturbing 480 rivers, streams and wetlands in its wake. For fifteen years community members, landowners and indigenous people have organized and raised their voices to stop this assault on their homes, communities and land. This documentary depicts this struggle and the amazing resistance it has spawned. Read more at: https://kboo.fm/media/78431-long-and-twisted-tale-jordan-cove

Check out the Washington Native Plant Society

The South Sound Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society serves Pierce, Thurston and adjacent counties with chapter meeting with educational presentations in Tacoma and Olympia from October through May. Hikes and special programs may be held throughout the year. Presentations, field trips and plant sales are open to the public. We provide small grants to the community for projects involving native plants and special presentations to other groups. Join us and help preserve our special South Sound flora heritage. https://www.wnps.org/blog

To Help Birds This Winter, Go Easy on Fall Yard Work

A manicured lawn might look nice, but messy is better for birds and bugs.

“… if you want to make your backyard a welcoming winter haven for birds, some fall tasks call for a laissez-faire approach. “Messy is definitely good to provide food and shelter for birds during the cold winter months,” says Tod Winston, Audubon’s Plants for Birds program manager.” Read more at Audobon https://www.audubon.org/news/to-help-birds-winter-go-easy-fall-yard-work

Donald Trump fears only one Democrat: Warren Sanders

That’s because the real political divide in America today is establishment versus anti-establishment – the comparatively few at the top who have siphoned off much of the wealth of the nation versus everyone else whose wages and prospects have gone nowhere.

Warren and Sanders know the system is rigged and that economic and political power must be reallocated from a corporate-Wall Street elite to the vast majority.

This is why both Warren and Sanders are hated by the Democratic establishment.

It’s also why much of the corporate press is ignoring the enthusiasm they’re generating. And why it’s picking apart their proposals, like a wealth tax and Medicare for All, as if they were specific pieces of legislation.

And why corporate and Wall Street Democrats are mounting a campaign to make Americans believe Warren and Sanders are “too far to the left” to beat Trump, and therefore “unelectable”.

Read more at The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/15/donald-trump-democrats-elizabeth-warren-bernie-sanders

Hilltop homeless camp sweep draws protest from neighbors

Today, Fri., Oct. 19, in the cold and rain, the Tacoma Police Department swept an encampment of approximately 30 people at 11thStreet and J Street in the Hilltop neighborhood. The police verbally claimed they posted 72 hour’s notice, but the residents of the encampment said they received no notice.The only notice they received, in fact, was their homes coming down upon them as the police dismantled their tents, taking their valuable belongings into white vans to be picked up at the Stability Site and leaving everything else to be picked up later as trash.

Luminary Bugs made for the Wake to Extinction event held by 350 Tacoma on Friday September 27th at the University of Washington Tacoma campus in downtown Tacoma.

The event included a nighttime outdoor parade and projections of artwork envisioning the Port of Tacoma as an estuary onto downtown buildings. Watch for further events for creating artwork to raise awareness about helping nature and its creatures on 350 Tacoma‘s facebook page.

The Fight to Stop the World’s Largest Methanol Refinery

Special for Climate Week: Barbara Bernstein’s story of several communities in the Pacific Northwest of the United States who are fighting mammoth fracked gas projects that would turn this green region into a fracked-gas export hub. For years, Bernstein has reported for Making Contact on David versus Goliath battles against oil and gas corporations, and the fight for a clean environment. Today you’ll hear part one of Bernstein’s project, Holding The Thin Green Line as we bring you, The World’s Largest MethanolRefinery. Listen to the interview at https://www.radioproject.org/2019/09/worlds-largest-methanol-refinery-fight-stop/

Seattle’s Jamie Margolin is 17 and a climate activist. On Wednesday she testifies before Congress

“Like many 17-year-olds, Jamie Margolin looks ahead with some impatience to her final year of high school, preparing to apply to colleges and confessing to a case of “senioritis.”

Instead, utilities and energy companies are continuing to invest heavily in carbon-polluting natural gas. An exclusive analysis by USA TODAY finds that across the United States there are as many as 177 natural gas power plants currently planned, under construction or announced. There are close to 2,000 now in service.

All that natural gas is “a ticking time bomb for our planet,” says Michael Brune, president of the Sierra Club. “If we are to prevent runaway climate change, these new plants can’t be built.”

It also doesn’t make financial sense, according to an analysis by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based think tank that focuses on energy and resource efficiency. By the time most of these power plants are slated to open their doors, the electricity they’ll provide will cost more to produce than clean energy alternatives.

By 2023, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates the average cost of producing a megawatt hour of electricity will be $40.20 for a large-scale natural gas plants. Solar installations will be $2.60 cheaper and wind turbines will be $3.60 cheaper.

Radio Tacoma’s discussion with Dan Villa of 350 Tacoma about the dangers of the Liquid Natural Gas plant on the Tacoma Tideflats and a debrief of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency hearing

Dan Villa, Marilyn Kimmerling, Pam Beal, and Louisa Beal discuss the negative effects of fracked gas for the planet and the dangers of this LNG plant for Commencent Bay and for those living near the plant, and the cost of the project for PSE customers. Public comments can be made to the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency through September 9th regarding the permit for the project.
http://radiotacoma.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Dan-Villa-Zoom-edit-for-website.mp3

As they left the hearing in the early afternoon, Louisa Beal and Pam Beal, both of Radio Tacoma, a low-power FM public access radio station, reflected on what they’d experienced.

Louisa Beal said she was surprised by those she saw talking up the project.

Ramona Bennett speaks against the LNG plant at the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency hearing at the Rialto Theater, August 27th

“There were people saying, ‘Oh, it’s going to be good for Tacoma’s air’ without really knowing, or saying or understanding that really, it’s the Earth’s air. And it’s the fracking that’s going on that is really being destructive,” she said.

Pam Beal said the project offered a clear example that residents need to get involved.

“PSE has embedded itself in our local government in our decision making they’ve joined local boards,” Pam Beal said, “and a lot of people don’t care about those meetings. So we as citizens need to get more involved with what they might think are boring meetings.”

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency hearing regarding the final permit for the LNG plant on the Tacoma Tideflats

Unknown to many islanders, we are living within a possible blast zone emanating from the Port of Tacoma. There, on the tide flats of the estuary, positioned over a seismic fault and on land that The Medicine Creek Treaty promised in perpetuity to the Puyallup Tribe, Puget Sound Energy is constructing an 8-million gallon tank with the goal of filling it with liquid natural gas (LNG).

PSE did not have permits when they began construction but nonetheless moved forward with building this behemoth while pursuing permits. They still are not fully permitted yet have not slowed in their push to build.

— Suzanne Greenberg is on the leadership team of the Vashon Climate Action Group and heads the NO LNG team.